Traffic engineers provide a Traffic Impact Assessment for planning applications either at the request of Council/VicRoads or proactively to help support a specific planning application.
A Traffic Impact Assessment Report, commonly known as a TIA or TIAR is the technical report undertaken by traffic engineers and is prepared for Council, VicRoads, other relevant authorities and nearby land owners/tenants to assess the development proposal.
It assesses the critical elements of the proposal, including:
• The site's location relative to traffic
• Whether the application seeks a car parking reduction, and if so, appropriate justification based on the relevant decision guidelines (access to public transport, off-site parking availability, etc.).
• How much traffic is the proposed development expected to generate.
• Is the expected volume of traffic generated appropriate for the location in terms of impacts to the local and arterial road network?
In almost all cases, the new development will have some impact on traffic in the area.
The goal of a Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) is to identify the impact, justify the benefits against the costs and provide solutions to minimise the development's external implications on the surrounding community.
A traffic impact assessment is quite often required before the council is prepared to assess the application in order to issue a planning permit.
This is a different document compared to a Traffic Management Plan (TMP), which is generally prepared where any sort of construction works occurs in the public realm (footpaths, naturestrips, roads).
TMPs are often required for multiple stages of construction on new developments (i.e. heavy vehicle delivery, crane installation, connecting services, etc).